Wednesday, November 17, 2010

An Independent Consultant

A few weeks ago I taught a continuing education workshop for MLS. Assistant Director Carolyn Noah introduced me to the group as an Independent Consultant.

Until that point, I'd considered myself an unemployed librarian looking for a full-time, benefitted position and picking up odd jobs in the meantime. However, these "odd jobs" are increasing in frequency and perhaps my destiny is to be an Independent Consultant.

Overall, the life is pretty good. For the last few months, I've been working one or two days every week for a variety of organizations: MLS; Conn. State Library; Donohue Group, Inc.; and Springfield City Library. Recently I finalized plans for a consulting project with a public library in Massachusetts that wants to re-organize its Technical Services department and yesterday I received the paperwork to be appointed adjunct faculty at Simmons GSLIS-west starting with the spring semester. I'll be teaching LIS 415, Organization of Information.

While the money is not what I was earning as a full-time consultant with CMRLS, I love the variety. I do have to keep track of my schedule, though, and pay attention to where I'm supposed to be for the next few weeks as some of these gigs (e.g. the CE workshops) require preparation. That requires me to develop some new skills - or more accurately to sharpen skills I already have.

The major down side to all of this is that LIS 415 meets on Saturday afternoon - at the same time the opera is broadcast on WFCR. I love classical music and I look forward to the opera every Saturday. I'll miss hearing the arias and learning about the composers and performers. You can be sure I'll treasure listening for the next several weeks until classes start in January.

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